Monica Terkildsen (standing next to the buffalo sculpture), is an Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge. Jonny Bearcub Stiffarm, is an enrolled member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine & Sioux Nation, and the Fort Peck Buffalo Administrator.
WWW is pleased to be able to support these incredible women leaders in their conservation activities on the Northern Great Plains. It is vitaly important for the Tribes to be able to have buffalo back on their lands. The animals are their lives, spiritually and economically.
The Northern Great Plains are – the “Serengeti of North America”. WorldWomenWork has been supporting the efforts of WWF in this region focused primarily on local tribal women in conservation, bison rangelands, and black-footed ferret recovery sites, public agencies, and tribal nations to ensure that the richness of the prairie ecosystem is sustained for future generations.
-From 2015 to 2016, 2.5 million acres were lost to crop production across the Great Plains.
-WWF estimates that keeping 25 million acres of grasslands intact could prevent 1.7 trillion gallons of water, along with tons of sediment and fertilizer—from washing into rivers, streams, lakes, and, ultimately, the Gulf of Mexico.
-Six songbird species that are only found in the Great Plains continue to be in perilous decline. Populations have declined by as much as 65-94% since the 1960s.
-Since 2009, nearly 8 percent of the landscape has been plowed for crops, leaving about 54 percent of the Great Plains grasslands intact.
The awesome fact that we compare the Northern Great Pains to the Serengeti is troubling indeed. Every place is confronted by the loss of species and human encroachment on wild places, We can only involve ourselves by supporting those who work in the field trying with every ounce of energy to somehow stop this ravaging of the natural world.
You are WorldWomenWork. Without your support we would not exist. We need you more than ever as the wildworld and it's guardians are under attack as never before.